Fort McMurray

About a week ago I had to head up to Fort McMurray on business.  This was another of those long road trips that seem to have become the norm for me lately.  I left the city at 6:00AM with my senior installation foreman.  We drove for five hours up to Fort McMurray to attend a couple of jobsite meetings and confirm some site dimensions for the fabrication of skylights.  

One project is the Thickwood Medical Center.  For this project we have to fabricate three new Barrel Vault Skylights to replace existing ones that are being removed and disposed of in conjunction with re-roofing of the building.

The second project is a renovation at the Peter Pond Mall.  Here they are cutting in two new skylights on a section of the mall that is being renovated into new retail space.  One skylight is 12 feet by 32 feet and the second is 20 feet by 20 feet.

Highway 63 is notorious for poor road conditions, traffic congestion and accidents.  The last time we drove up this way, in poor winter driving conditions, we saw several vehicles upside down or on their sides in the ditch.  This time around road conditions were good.  Traffic is often delayed by some of the large loads that are being transported up to the oilsands.  Highway 63 is, for the most part, just a two lane highway.  There are passing lanes and turnouts from time to time.  The large industrial traffic is obligated to respect traffic volume and is only allowed to move during daylight hours and needs to use the turnouts.  But, these conditions lead to impatience, risky passing attempts and even road rage.  In response to complaints and some recent serious accidents the provincial government is responding by attempting to fast track the twinning of this highway.  But it is a slow process.  There are a couple short sections that are already twinned and a couple of significant sections that are under construction.  But it appears as though it will be at least another year before there is any substantial improvement.  And even then there will be large sections that will still be awaiting further upgrading.

To drive to Fort McMurray and back in one long day... 10 hours spent on the road, plus time spent at site meetings... not only makes for a very long day, but gives one some appreciation for not only the scale of the oilsands projects, but also the issues associated with the remote location of this site, and the concerns surrounding access.